Thursday, February 09, 2006

RU kidding?

Please skip this post if you are offended by my pro-choice stance...

I am finding it difficult to come to terms with the debate currently raging in Australia over the authorisation for use of the abortion drug RU486. Our supposedly venerable politicians are argy-bargying it out in parliament, trying to decide whether the non-qualified health minister or the eminently qualified Therapeutic Goods Administration should decide whether it's a drug that is fit for purpose for use in Australia.

Of course those against abortion are making a case against the drug's safety, while those who are not siding with the so-called 'pro-lifers' are being painted as killers. The emotive language being used by interest groups is quite disgraceful, as is the sending of images of foetuses to the parliamentary committee.

This is not a question over whether abortion is legal or not. That debate has been had. This is a question of whether women should be able to use the method best suited to their situation to abort their unwanted foetus. Looking down at Romily sleeping peacefully in her cot, I can't understand how anyone could abort their baby - but that's because I have a little angel of my own. If my life circumstances had been very different, I may have chosen another option.

I think women should have all the available options at their disposal. Deciding to have an abortion is difficult enough, without having to fight to do it in the most straightforward and safe way possible. People need to think about the needs and wants of the mother, as well as those of the unborn child.

In this very secular society, the religious views of politicians and interest groups should not be dictating what options are open to me and to all the other women of Australia.